The Nightmare from Beyond
Next update coming next week. More info soon.
[DEVLOG] Climbing and a weird creature
As always, if you like what you see, please buy the game on my website, and join the mailing list to get updates and special promotions.
[DEVLOG] New coloring, platforming and item sneak-peek
I will still use longer blog posts and themed videos for other stuff, but I'm just seeing how it goes. You can call this "open development."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZkNPdiap18
As always, if you like what you see, please buy the game here on Steam, or my website, and join the mailing list to get updates and special promotions.
[UPDATE] TNFB release 4 is now available
Hello all!
I was showing the game to a friend when we found a very weird bug that caused the mouse cursor (and all other on-screen prompts) to go crazy. It was mostly due to the controller update, so I have currently disabled the cursor completely. I will work to find a different way to detect when a controller is present, and also detect when it's disconnected, or when you opt to use the mouse instead.
I also found some issues with the fog in some areas, but it's fixed now.
Also, thanks for the support, please buy this game and show it to your friends. Also, remember you can still get the game 20% off (steam key included) on the website
[DEVLOG] Steam Sale and new Dev Log!
I guess that by know, most of you have realized this game is a single-man project, and your purchases really help the development of this project.. Long story short, there used to be a 6 person team, but they gradually left and it has been a single-man project since May 2017.
As you see, The Nightmare from Beyond is 15% off right now, but if you want to get additional 5% off, check out the website. Pro tip, when there's a sale, it's a good idea to check out the page too :)
I also made a short video log where I talk a little bit about the story, what my goal is, and what's going on, without going into spoilers. You can see the video below. If you have played Enola, you know I like character-driven stories, and The Nightmare from Beyond will not be an exception.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Q-J02cslbg
If you want to keep up with the news about this game, please join the mailing list!
[UPDATE] TNFB Release 3 is now available
Hello all!
Well, it’s been very tricky and difficult to work on this one, but it’s finally here. There are two main things I had to deal with that caused a few issues. First, I switched to a more recent version of the engine, and that meant I also needed to update to newer versions of some APIs I’ve been using. I usually like to “lock the code” so I don’t have to deal with version updates that may introduce bugs, but, in this specific case, I found the new version would allow me to do stuff the previous version didn’t, so I really took the time to make the switch and deal with all the needed fixes (for the three versions: PC, PS4 and Vita). And second, I switched to a different rendering path (from deferred to forward, for those familiar with the terms), because I wanted to test a different anti-aliasing method. Long story short, forward supports hardware AA and MSAA, while deferred uses a different one. They both have their advantages and disadvantages, so it’s not like one is “better” than the other for every case.
And on top of that…
This is what’s new/changed in this version:
Made a lot of changes to the jump physics. Someone in the Steam forums said jumps were too long/fast and they felt unrealistic and ruined the experience. I changed them so now the jumps are shorter, and slower. Actually after reviewing the old Tomb Raider and Prince of Persia games, this new jump emulates the feel of those games’ jumps more closely.
Obviously that meant I had to re-design some parts of the existing levels since she’s no longer able to jump that far.
Added DOF and Motion Blur.
Played a little bit with the camera tint effects. Some levels felt very “gray” so I changed that. I still have more work to do in that area, specifically in the “open canyon” area but it’s getting there.
Removed the options menu, unfortunately. I noticed it was causing a lot of problems and bugs with the quality settings, so I had to remove it. It will also default to your native resolution. Right now, if you want to change the game quality, you need to press and hold the Alt key after launching the game (from either the Steam client, or the executable) to open the “splash” screen. I will add the new options menu (including more options and control remapping) in the next update.
Made a few minor and major changes to the first parts of the game. During the entire development, I tried a lot of things to get the “look and feel” of this land right (some results were good, and some sucked big time), but this time I figured I’d just go full alien-weird-environment. Personally I like it more than the previous version and I plan to continue exploring this route some more.
There are also a couple of new areas. One of them includes interactions with an NPC (as seen in the previous dev blog), and I plan to refine and improve this, specially since there will be a few more NPCs in the game (including Sanja’s sister). This area also includes a very small and simple “stealth” sequence where I am doing some gameplay stuff with verticality, so rather than simply hiding behind things, you can also hang from things and hide behind them, or use shadows of hanging things to avoid being seen.
The game now detects whether you are using a gamepad or only keyboard/mouse, and adjust accordingly showing mouse cursors in menus, etc). So far it only works for new games, and doesn’t detect “hot-plugging” so if the gamepad wasn’t present on start, it will still work (like it does now), but in the menus you’ll get a cursor.
Added names to the subtitles, so you know who’s talking. The names in the subtitles will be kept after I add voices.
And lastly, made some changes to the skin material to make it look better.
And that’s it! As always, if you want to get notified on updates, please join our mailing list and support the game and buy it right now on the official website, Steam or itchio.
[UPDATE] A new build coming soon
Hello all, I just wanted to let you know I'm uploading a new update in the next couple of days. I'll post a list of changes as soon as it's up.
Greetings
[DEVLOG] Dealing with NPCs and dialogues…
Hello again. Well, these days I’ve been dealing mostly with an NPC and some dialogues. It’s actually a very simple thing, but it can be difficult to get right if you don’t want to just stop the entire game to deliver some lines.
The easiest thing to do would be to just reach a point and fire up a cinematic to deliver some lines, and then fire another short cinematic the next section, but the game will have so many dialogues I’d hate to stop the gameplay every time.
Right now the option I am testing is to have the conversation play as they walk, but there’s another issue: what happens if you, the player, decide to walk in a different direction? What if you stop walking but the other character reaches the exit, around 100 meters ahead? Will the conversation continue even if you are many meters away from each other?
I could do something a little more complex, just play the conversation when they are within a certain distance, and stop it in case they are too far apart, but that’s something that needs testing. Either way, the next update will have a first test version and then I’ll refine based on player input.
On a side note, this part has green fog. Actually the green fog and other small details are direct references to some Lovecraft stories, and I’ll add these even if they have nothing to do with the main plot. Don’t expect a Cthulhu or Dagon cameo in the game, though. I am going on a completely different direction.
A new build will come soon-ish. I’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, please join our mailing list and support the game and buy it right now on the official website, Steam or itchio.
Halloween sale! 15% off!
Hello! Get The Nightmare from Beyond is 15% off here on Steam...
BUT wait! There's more...
20% off on my website (Steam Key or DRM-Free options).
The image shown above is a work in progress of a story-based level that is going to be available in the next update. To be honest, I wanted it to be ready for this halloween, but unfortunately it wasn't finished on time.
[DEVLOG] Bug fixes, and somewhat short on updates...
Half of this is more related to the PS4 version, not the PC version. However, it indirectly helps the PC version since the PS4 is a very “picky” machine, and it forces you to take greater care when working on stuff.
There was an article by Sam Sant posted a few weeks ago on Pass The Controller, and (valid) criticism aside, something he mentions is, and I quote: “The Nightmare from Beyond was painless to get up and running and already boasts a smooth frame rate, which is more than can be said for some finished products on Steam.”
Well, there are two reasons for this: first, I constantly go back and forth between the PC and PS4 version of the game, making sure it runs smoothly on both platforms (specially on the PS4, since, being honest, it’s not as powerful as a modern computer), and second, I have a 4K setup with a GTX 970 and I usually don’t tag a level as “finished” until I get non-dropping 60 fps in at least high quality. Making the constant switch between platforms also helps me spot bugs that don’t happen in other platform. For example two days ago I found a bug where Sanja was not grabbing edges, and that only happened on PS4, so I had to find out why that was happening and then I made the same changes for the PC version, to make sure there’s no risk of that happening to any PC user.
So, while multiplatform development is more difficult, at least it has its advantages when it comes to QA.
Anyway, back to the thing about the PS4, I was testing the game on it and I found a lot of issues not present in previous versions. Long story short, I got a little bit too “personal” with the whole thing and ended up getting a terrible stress attack that left me out of commission for two days.
So that’s why there aren’t many updates I can report.
There’s another article about The Nightmare from Beyond on Rely on Horror, and it gave me a hint that I need to make some things a little clearer, and also add more context to the entire game. I already solved the issue about the subtitles, so now whenever someone speaks, the subtitles will also display the name of who’s talking (that will be a permanent change even after adding voice acting).
Another thing I am doing right now is changing a little of the “game flow” so there’s a section that adds more context and information to the entire game. It still be just a little bit, since I don’t want to have “Miss Exposition” yapping all the time, and I want the story to unveil as you progress, not reveal everything in the first 10 minutes.
I am planning a small update to be released on time for the Halloween Sale. More on that when the update is ready. If you want to get exclusive news, please, join the mailing list. Also, if you haven’t, please buy The Nightmare from Beyond here on Steam, or on itch.io here (or feel free to wait for the Halloween Sale, of course).